Wiprecht of Groitzsch | |
|---|---|
| Margrave of Meissen | |
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| Born | c. 10th century |
| Died | (1124-05-22)May 22, 1124 Pegau |
| Spouses | Judith, daughter ofEmperor Henry IV Cunigunda, heiress ofBeichlingen |
| Issue | Henry of Groitzsch |
| Father | Wiprecht of Balsamgau |
| Mother | Sigena of Leinungen |
Wiprecht (orWigbert)of Groitzsch (died 22 May 1124) was theMargrave of Meissen and theSaxon Ostmark from 1123 until his death. Afavourite in the court of theHoly Roman Emperor, Henry IV, Wiprecht fought againstRudolf of Rheinfelden andPope Gregory VII and later joined in a rebellion against the imperial successor,Henry V.
He was born to a noble family of theAltmark, the son of Wiprecht of Balsamgau and Sigena of Leinungen. After his father's death in 1060, he was raised at the court ofLothair Udo II,Margrave of the Nordmark, inStade.
Lothair Udo granted him the castle ofTangermünde in the Balsamgau as a fief and later transferred him to the castle ofGroitzsch in theOsterland, between thePleisse, theMulde, and theElster, from which he took his name. Sometime between 1075 and 1080, he was forcibly exiled from Groitzsch by the regional nobility, who opposed his colonisation movements. He fled to the court ofVratislaus II of Bohemia inPrague. Under Vratislaus he rose to a position of influence at court and, as a favourite of theEmperor Henry IV, he supported Vratislaus for a crown in 1080. In 1085, he married the king's daughter Judith, daughter of his third wife, Swiętoslawa (Svatana), a Pole. She brought him Budissin, that is,Upper Lusatia aroundBautzen, andNisani, the region aroundDresden, as a dowry. Judith gave birth to his first son, Wiprecht, in 1087.
In 1080, he fought with the Emperor against theanti-kingRudolf of Rheinfelden. In 1084, he was with Henry atRome fighting againstPope Gregory VII. Because he had murdered an enemy in the church of Saint James inZeitz in 1089, Wiprecht undertook a pilgrimage to Rome andSantiago de Compostela in 1090.
After his sojourn in Bohemia, he returned to theMarch of Meissen and retook Groitzsch by force of arms. He immediately began settling the region with Germans fromFranconia in villages between the Mulde andWyhra rivers. According toJames Westfall Thompson, the "real Germanisation of Meissen begins with Wiprecht von Groitzsch."[1] In 1091 he founded the monastery ofPegau, whose annals, theAnnales Pegavienses, are the primary source for his life. He founded another monastery,Lausigk, in 1104. In 1106, he first appears with the title of count and campaigned with the new kingHenry V.
In 1108, Judith died. In 1110, he married Cunigunda, heiress ofBeichlingen and daughter ofOtto I, Margrave of Meissen. It was a double wedding, as his son Wiprecht married Cunigunda's daughter from another marriage, also Cunigunda, at the same time. His marriage with Cunigunda went childless.
In 1109, after the assassination of DukeSvatopluk, Wiprecht the Younger aidedBořivoj II in regaining Prague. When news of this reachedVladislaus, Bořivoj's brother celebrating Christmastide inPlzeň, Vladislaus marched on Prague and defeated Wiprecht outside the city walls on 24 December 1109. He called on the Emperor to come and settle matters and compensate him with 500marks of silver for the expense of having to take up his ducal rights by force. The Emperor arrived fromBamberg and arrested Wiprecht. Wiprecht the Elder had to give up his first wife's dowry and his castles ofLeisnig andMorungen to the emperor to redeem his son.
After the imperial coronation of Henry V, Wiprecht,Siegfried of Orlamünde, andLouis I of Thuringia joined in rebellion against him (1112). They were defeated byHoyer of Mansfeld and Wiprecht was captured and imprisoned atTrifels in 1113, only being spared death on the condition that he transfer all his lands to the emperor. He was only released in 1116 in a prisoner exchange for theministerialis Heinrich Haupt. He seems at that time to have recovered his lost rights. While he was in prison, his son Wiprecht, took part on the side of theLothair of Supplinburg in theBattle of Welfesholz on 11 February 1115, where Hoyer of Mansfeld had died. Wiprecht the Younger died in 1117.
In 1118, Wiprecht was made theburggrave ofMagdeburg. He became theadvocate of the monastery of Neuwerk atHalle. In 1123, he was back in imperial favour when Henry V appointed him to succeedHenry II in the marches of Meissen and Lusatia (the Ostmark).Lothair, Duke of Saxony, appointed his own candidates:Albert the Bear in Lusatia andConrad in Meissen. He was unable to hold his own in two marches against two powerful opponents. He died of burns received during a fire in May of the next year at Pegau, where he was buried in the church he had founded. He was predeceased by his eldest son, Wiprecht, and succeeded by his second son,Henry. He left one daughter, Bertha, who marriedDedo IV of Wettin, son ofTimo.[2]
| Preceded by | Margrave of the Saxon Ostmark 1123–1124 | Succeeded by |
| Margrave of Meissen 1123–1124 |
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